The Progressive Corporation $PGR is BloombergSen Inc.’s 2nd Largest Position

BloombergSen Inc. decreased its stake in shares of The Progressive Corporation (NYSE:PGR) by 8.9% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 608,064 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 59,352 shares during the quarter. Progressive accounts for about 10.0% of BloombergSen Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. BloombergSen Inc.’s holdings in Progressive were worth $162,268,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 14.4% during the second quarter. Precision Wealth Strategies LLC now owns 2,208 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $589,000 after buying an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. USA Financial Formulas raised its stake in Progressive by 21.0% during the second quarter. USA Financial Formulas now owns 811 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $216,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. raised its stake in Progressive by 17.2% during the second quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 13,792 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,681,000 after buying an additional 2,021 shares during the last quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Progressive by 5.1% during the second quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,268 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Consolidated Portfolio Review Corp purchased a new position in Progressive during the second quarter valued at $390,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.34% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Progressive

In related news, insider Lori A. Niederst sold 8,063 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.18, for a total transaction of $2,017,201.34. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 39,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,767,027.20. This represents a 17.12% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Susan Patricia Griffith sold 30,659 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $246.06, for a total value of $7,543,953.54. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 476,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $117,194,933.16. This trade represents a 6.05% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 130,045 shares of company stock valued at $31,997,390 in the last 90 days. 0.34% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Progressive Stock Down 0.1%

Progressive stock opened at $246.73 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $144.64 billion, a PE ratio of 13.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 0.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.21, a quick ratio of 0.31 and a current ratio of 0.31. The Progressive Corporation has a one year low of $228.54 and a one year high of $292.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $245.31 and a 200 day moving average of $261.43.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.43 by $0.45. The company had revenue of $20.08 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $20.39 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 35.37% and a net margin of 12.66%.Progressive’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.48 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Progressive Corporation will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 2nd will be given a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 2nd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio is 2.25%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Progressive in a research note on Monday, September 15th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. BMO Capital Markets set a $252.00 price target on Progressive in a research note on Thursday, September 18th. Evercore ISI decreased their price target on Progressive from $275.00 to $273.00 and set an “in-line” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Citigroup restated a “buy” rating on shares of Progressive in a research note on Friday, August 29th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Progressive from $343.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $279.63.

Progressive Company Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.